Process of making quinacrine



use roundabout procedures.

" dissolved in water. 'tained is filtered, and the quinacrine hydro- Patented Jan. 18, t 1949 'a 5::

s PATENT -flFFlCEgff;1.;

" PnocEss or QUINACRINE I Q I Y 3 Gail L; Shaw and Reuben G. Jones, Indianapolis, 7: -".-Ind.', assignors to EliLilly and Company, ,Indianapolis,1lnd., a corporation of Indiana No Drawing. Application July 17,1944,

a Serial No. 545,410

:process of "manufacturing 'quinacrine; to obtain fan increasedyield; to efiect a saving inchemicals [u edyto avoid certain process steps heretofore 5 Claims. (01. 260-279) Qdeemednecessa y; to make it possible to carry but thecomplete process to the point of an eiiective separation 'of' thefquinacri'ne," in a single .VesSeh" to obtain an eifective separation of'the quinacrinedirectly from the reaction mixture in .which it is formed; and to facilitate the obtaining of quinacrine of high purity. b

, In the manufacture of quinacrine, as is known, 1 diethykamino-4-aminopentane and Z-methoxy- 6,9-dichloroacridine arecaused to react in the presence of an excess of phenol, heretofore a several-fold excess, at temperatures usually in the range of 100 -l30 C." Heretofore it has not been known how to get directly from that reaction mixture the quinacrine that is produced by that reaction, for the reaction mixture is a gummy mass; 'and so it has been necessary to "In one such known procedure, the reaction mixture is diluted with a large volume of acetone, and hydrochloric acid is added. This causesth'e formation of crystals of quinacrine hydrochloride;

which are filtered off, washed with acetone, and

' The water solution so obwhich'dis'solves some of the material copresent 'with the quinacrine, in part by converting that copresent material into soluble sodium salts, such as sodium phenate' and sodiumchloride. But in this procedure the resultant mixture forms a rather persistent emulsion, which will not separate effectively into layers, and it is impractical to-get quinacrine directly from it in substantial yields. To obtain the quinacrinein that procedure it has. been the practice toladd ether to the-mixture to dissolve the quinacrlne from it,

i then toilet the whole-stand so that it will sepaif 2 rate into an upper ether-layer containing the quinacrine and a lower aqueous layer containing the sodium phenate and sodium chloride, toremove the ether layer and extract the quinacrine from it with dilute acetic acid, and to precipitate the quinacrine from the acetic acid solution by treating the latter with ammoniay following which the precipitated quinacrine is redissolved in ether, and the ethereal solution of the quinacrine is treated with an etherealsolution of hydrochloric acid to produce precipitation of quinacrine hydrochloride. Y I

'By our invention We eliminate these complications of procedure. As in the procedure last referred to, we also add sodiurnhydroxide, and

water, to the reaction mixture, conveniently but not necessarily together in the form of an aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide; to convert to their sodium salts the phenol and hydrochloric acid present in the reaction mixture; We desirably use enough sodium hydroxide to elfect such" con version of all the phenol and all the hydrochloric acid present, to insure which involves the use of some excess of sodium hydroxide. In doing this, we have discovered the surprising fact that by suitably varying the ratio of sodium hydroxide to the water present not only can we avoid the formation of the emulsion which in the previous procedure has been an obstacle that seemed in superable, but we can get an effective separation into layers, by the removal of one from the other of whichit becomes possible to get the quinacrine almost directly without the complications of previous procedures and with very high yields. Exploring this discovery, we find that to g'et'the desired formation of distinct 1 aqueous and quinacrine layers the amount of water used must be such that the aqueous solution which is formed of the sodium salts and the excess sodium hydroxide above referred to, after heating; stirring, and cooling, will have a specific gravity sufficiently different from that of the quinacrine that a clean separation between the two takes place efiectively and promptly, forming-in this be either greater or less than that of the quinacrine; although we prefer to'have it less, so that the concentration of salts and sodium hydroxide in it may'not be too great for con.

venient handling. In general, the amount of water added is such that the specific gravity of the aqueous layer will be outside the range of 1.062 to 1.130. We prefer that the specific gravity of the aqueous layer be below the low end of this range rather than above the high end of it-that is, below 1.062-and we desirably work well below the low end of that range, most desirably with the specific gravity of the water layer below 1.050 or (still better) even below 1.040.

After obtaining the 'sep aration=into tvvolayers the waterlayer containing the salts,-and the-oily layer consisting of the crude quinacrine-we suitably remove the water layenas by pumping off or decanting it. We have discovered. that We can effectively wash this remaining quinacrine layer with water, to remove various water-soluble impurities; and that the wa'shed oily quin'acrinelayer will separate effectively and -cleanlyand" quickly from the water used in..- such washing. In doing the washing with water, we add several volumes of water and heat to about 80 C., with stirring, and then cool to effect separation f 'lih8- quinacrine from the supernatant layer of wash water; gwhi ch may be removed inconvenient manner; aaby pumping. or decanting. This washing procedure may berepeated one-or more times :as desired... 1

. ln zthis wayxwe obtainthefree quinacrine base directly, from; the reaction mixture in which it is formerly-by: azsimple gravity separation. The free quinacrine base may-be converted: into any desinedssalhifiit-is des-iredto do so; For instance, i-f quinacri-ne hydrochloride is desired, the base may,- vbeeonvertedinto I the hydrochloride-by treatment with hydrochloric :acid, in known manner.

Ina-our. process. :We it advantageous to-use anruchsmaller excess ofphenolthan has heretoforexbeenrusedpfor weuse only a slight excess, -ofnoit-te=exceed 50 and desirably not to exceed 30%.; beyond the. amount molecularly. equivalent to the: Z-metho-xy-6,9 dichloroacridine used, in 'steadegefcthe several foldtexcesswhich has heretoiorebeenzuniversal. By thus reducingthe excess ofnphenol used, We reduce thevolume ofliquids thatit is necessary to handle, for we reduce the quantityof salts that are formed; and: incidentallylwezefiect'alsaving reagents.

- .Thefollowing-isan example of our process? A mixture of four. pounds of phenol, 9.27 pounds step may be and desirably. isrepeated. at. least of2emethoxy fifi-dichloroacricline,- and 5.2 pounds 0t. 85. percent =1.- diethylaminoi-4-arninopentaneis agitateglior about one or two hours,,during which time itris heldi at. a. temperatureof about 1'051 15 C, Then,.-while -maintaining' -t'hejlnixture-hot, 7.8

gallons-iotwaterand 3p-o'unds of 96-per cent caustic soda aread-ded; permissibly separatelybut desirably 'with the caustic soda "dissolved in the water.-. Afteritheaddition of Water and caustic soda, themixture is agitated. for about an hour, .whilezbeing maintainedat a temperature of: 7-80- 85":.;;after which the mixture is cooled-to-about 49? C., agitation is stoppedtoallow the separation into layers abovereferredto; with the quinacrine filee-base below as the heavier 'layerand an aqueoussolution of salts-and sodium hydroxide above as thedighter layer, and theupper aqueous layer isadrawn off.: Eight gallons "of Water are added toithe remainingj oily layer, which is for the most pant=the: desired quina'crine free base; and the wholezis'. agitated :for about an hour to produce thorough" mixingiand meanwhile is maintainediat -aitemperatureofabout 80-585 C.--;:af-ter whichathe .mixtune is..cooled:;tor.about 1 10" C., and: agitation is stopped. The free base separates in an oily lower layer, and the upper aqueous layer containing the impurities which the water has taken up is drawn off. This washing with water may be repeated one or more times. After the final washing, 8 gallons of water are added, and with it 8 pounds of 36 percent hydrochloric acid, and the whole is heated to about 80 C., with agitation. This converts the free base into the hydrochloride, in water solution. Desirably the agitation is continued for about two hours. At the end ofe-this time-..the pH; isead justedi tocbetween 318'amd45811bi the add'ifii om' oi? either hydrochloric acid or sodium hydroxide as necessary. Then two or three pounds of activated carbon is added,

agitationat 80? C. is continued for about an additional hourfand the mixture is then cooled to somewhat below 4'0--" C.; after which cooling the agitation i'svcont'inued for about an hour longer.

-Theri1the* wholeris heated to about 5558 C., and

filteredto remove the carbon and other wateriiisoluble material. The filtrate is reheated to 55 C.; and 2.8 pounds of 36 percent hydrochloriiiracid are added, to lower the pH of the mixture and thereby toi'make the quinacrine hydrochloride. less soluble. Then. themixture is cooled to 510 C. to cause the quinacrineh'ydrochloridatoseparate. outzin large..-measure,.in crystal-li'ne form. The-.crystalsfso oBt'ai'nedLare essentially .pure quinacrine idihydrochloride; and are recovered in..suitable manner, 'as. by being..co1'- lectedon. .a. filter. The. crystals. are desirably washed. withrac'etone', .as by beingslurried with about 36"p'ounds .0facetone, after. which they are collected on afilten. This acetone washin'g c-nce..; The vquinacrine diliyd'rochloride. crystals thus obtained"ate diiedlih. air for. ab011tl1'5 2 0 hoursati50 C..

Tfieiyield. off"qu" acrine hydrochloride is about 80 85 percent. of the theoretical, varyirigiwith the quality .ofithe reactants used. t

. We. claim. as our invention:

1.. The. processofi-producing .quinacri'ne whic'h comprised reacting. 2-methoxye6,9-dichloroacri- A dine, and. 1 -diethylaminoethyI i-aminopentane inthapresence :of .at. least one molecular. equivalent.of..phenol.relative to theamountoi Z Imetlioxy-GH diChIorOacridine usedl; treating. the reaction ,mixture with. sodiumhydroxide andwater in. amounts, suflicient. toproduce -..an aqueousdayen I having. a specific gravity outside thera-nge-ot aboutlLflBLL touabout. 1.13.0} and separating, .the' quinacri'ne was anmoili- 2.} In ;the. rmethodrof; producing. quin-acrine. in accovdancdwith claim 1,. the step. of; treating. the reactionhmixture with. sodium. hydroxide. and watercin. amounts" sufiicienttto produce an alkae lineaqueous; layer. having ra. specificagravity v-l than about 1.062.

31.; themethed of -producing quinacrinq in aoccndancewithclaim; Lethe stepof-tneatingthe reactionprmixture with: sodiumhydroxideand water in amounts sufficient. totproduoe 'an aikadine aqueous-Myer having a specific gravity-r less than aibQut1 .050l y 4. In the-method. of r producing quinaorine -in accondancefiwith claim! -1-,- th8'r'Stp! of treating; the reaetionl mixture?- with. sodiumi hydroxide-and wateminisamountszsuflicient -topro'duca anl aliml-ine aqueous; layer;ihavingearspecific gravityless thaniabout: 12(14'0}! l 5;. In. theipnooessrofi ipnoducingi quinacrine;; the st exist-comprising. ne actingn2emethoxy+6i9-dichlo- --ro aeridiner? and: l-ediethylamino i aminopentane in the presence of at least 1 but not more than REFERENCES CITED about 1.5 molar equivalents of phenol relative to the amount of 2-methoxy-6,9-dichloroacridine used; treating the reaction mixture with The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

sodium hydroxide to liberate quinacrine from 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS combination as a salt and to react with acidic N b substances present, and with water sufiicient to g g ggi et a1 produce an aqueous layer having a specific gravity outside the range of about 1.062 to about 1.130; O HER REFERENCES and separating the'quinacrine as an oil. 10 Basu et al., Jour. Indian Chem. Soc. vol 14 GAIL SHAW- pages 468-471.

REUBEN G. JONES. 

